I’m pretty sure this won’t always give nice results, and your are likely to be better off working to ‘get gauge’. But what about those times when you can’t? Or when you think, ‘hey, if I just used my yarn, with the needle size that makes it look right, maybe this recipe would be OK if I just made one of the other sizes instead of my usual one?’

So here’s a handy little Excel calculator I made to let you check that, and tinker with gauge requirements to your heart’s content. Also it includes a section for working with pattern repeats: just work out the required multiple, and any additional stitches for the ends of rows and – bingo! the geek’s friend will do the rest.

Let me know if it’s useful, or if there’s anything wrong with it. May the many-headed knitter of the Internet test this out, and bring me to my senses if required. I’m particularly unsure whether the pattern repeat part works right. It might need tweaking, so please use with caution, common sense, etc and don’t sue me because, just like there are no knitting police, there are no knitting public prosecutors either. Good luck and enjoy.

And please remember, I could have been knitting when I was messing around with the frustrations of Excel, so be kind. Thank you. Click on the image to download the calculator.